Near-Death Experiences: Millions of Testimonies Point to Life After Death

The number of people worldwide who have returned to life after clinical death is estimated at over thirty million.

Most of them report remarkably similar experiences during the process of dying. Some were even able to describe events that took place both near and far from their clinically dead bodies. The large number of people revived in our generation is explained by Kenneth Ring, professor of consciousness psychology at the University of Connecticut and founder of the university’s Near Death Studies program. He explains that modern resuscitation techniques have brought many people back from a state of near death to life.

Scientists Begin to Say: There Is Life After Death

For the first time, scientists, physicians, and psychiatrists who studied patients over many years, individuals who were medically considered dead and later returned to life, began to claim that there is life after death. They identified common patterns in these accounts which, in their view, indicate that death is not annihilation.

Raymond Moody and Life After Life

Raymond A. Moody, a psychiatrist and physician with a degree in philosophy from the University of Virginia, presents testimonies in his book Life After Life from people who “saw death.” These were critically ill patients or accident victims who were declared dead but survived as what doctors called “medical miracles.”

Although the experiences vary in detail, certain elements recur in all accounts. Without exception, individuals reported being able to see and hear everything happening around the physical body they had left below. Many experienced a dark tunnel and an immense, powerful light described as a loving presence without limit. This presence communicated with them through thought rather than speech.

They saw relatives and friends who had died before them coming to greet them. They witnessed rapid yet vivid images from their lives. All described in precise detail the operating table on which they “died” or the wrecked vehicle in which they were “killed,” including minute medical details. Physicians could not explain how these patients perceived such information while they were clinically dead, without pulse, without breathing, and without brain waves.

A Firsthand Account of Leaving the Body

“I knew I was dying,” one woman who had been declared dead recounted. “I could not do anything because no one could hear me. I left my body, I have no doubt about it. I saw my body lying on the operating table and heard the doctors giving up on me. I felt terrible because I did not want to die.

“Suddenly I saw a light. At first it was dim, but it gradually grew stronger. It was an enormous light, impossible to describe. It enveloped everything, yet it did not blind me, and I could still see the operating room. When the light was over me, or rather when I was within it, I did not understand what was happening. But when the light asked me if I was ready to die, I felt as if I were speaking with a person. Yet it was not a person. It was the light communicating. I knew the light understood that I was not ready to die. I felt as if I were being examined. I felt so good. I felt safety and love.”

Elisabeth Kübler Ross and Long Term Research

The American psychiatrist Elisabeth Kübler-Ross researched this subject seriously for many years. Summarizing over twenty years of study, she stated: “I know beyond any shadow of a doubt that life continues after physical death. By nature I am very skeptical, and therefore I examined every aspect of this experience with great care. I discovered, for example, that people who had lost limbs reported that when they left their bodies, they were whole again.

“Moreover, people blind from birth described with astonishing accuracy what the people in the room were wearing, what jewelry they had on, and what they were doing. This is impossible. How could they have known?”

Kübler Ross saw no need to persuade others of the truth of the phenomenon. “Those who are open to hear will hear,” she said, “and those who close their ears will receive a surprise.”

Common Patterns Across the World

Research into near death experiences points to many shared elements reported by millions of witnesses from all corners of the world. The initial and universal description is floating outside and above the physical body, with full awareness of surrounding events.

Most then describe entering a luminous environment of inner beauty and moving through a dark tunnel toward a bright light. Many report a voice speaking to them. People with disabilities described a feeling of release from physical constraints, and nearly all reported the disappearance of the human fear of death.

Seeing Beyond the Body

It can be demonstrated that these individuals were not hallucinating from brain activity alone, because they accurately described events occurring around their clinically dead bodies and even beyond the room where the body lay.

Some described conversations between doctors. Others reported events that took place in waiting rooms outside the operating theater.

Dr. Moody recounts cases in which patients astonished doctors by reporting events they witnessed while out of their bodies. In one case, a teenage girl left her body while dying and entered another room in the hospital, where she found her sister sitting and crying, repeating, “Kathy, please don’t die.” The sister was shocked when Kathy later told her exactly where she had been sitting and what she had said.

Enhanced Perception in the Spiritual State

Dr. Moody explains that spiritual perception is not the same as perception through the physical body. People experience great clarity and almost unlimited movement. They pass through walls, see and hear what happens in other rooms, and even in distant locations.

Many reported a pleasant sense of warmth. None reported smells or tastes while outside the physical body. However, the senses corresponding to vision and hearing were described as flawless, and even more refined and powerful than in physical life.

One man said that while “dead,” his vision was unimaginably sharp. A woman described it as if this spiritual sense had no limits, as though she could look anywhere and everywhere.

Another woman, injured in an accident, described seeing the activity around the ambulance. Whenever she looked at someone and wondered what they were thinking, she knew instantly, as if magnified. She felt that part of her, which she called her spirit, could move toward distant people, and that if something occurred anywhere in the world, she could simply be there.

Thought Communication Instead of Sound

“Hearing” in the spiritual state is only an analogy. Most say they did not hear physical sounds. Rather, they perceived the thoughts of those around them. As one woman explained, “I saw people around me and understood what they were saying. I did not hear their voices as I hear you. It was more like knowing exactly what they were thinking, without words. I understood it a second before they opened their mouths.”

The Spiritual Body Remains Intact

Even severe physical injury does not appear to harm the spiritual body. In one case, a man lost his leg in an accident that caused his clinical death. He saw his damaged body from a distance while doctors worked on it. Yet while outside his body, he said, “I could feel my body and it was whole. I know it. I felt complete and fully present, even though physically I was not.”

Limits of Near Death Research

Before presenting a list of researchers and books on the subject, it is important to emphasize that these studies should not be seen as comprehensive or as claiming to describe everything that occurs at death. We do not know what else may have happened to those who died, and it may be the Creator’s will that they do not remember everything.

Additionally, these individuals did not complete the full process of death, since they returned to this world. Therefore, one cannot conclude from their testimony how death unfolds for someone who does not return.

Finally, it should be remembered that most researchers and subjects are non Jews. The nature and level of the Jewish soul are fundamentally different, and the obligations of mitzvot are far greater. Consequently, the accountability of Jewish souls in the heavenly court is greater, as is the reward.